Friendship Over Guilt
by Animation Universe 2005
Summary: A young panther feels guilt and shame over what he had done and hides himself away from the world...only to find the one person that will stick by his side forever. Dedicated to We'll-be-chasing-the-sun.


This one-shot is dedicated to my friend We'll-be-chasing-the-sun. I hope you like what I did to your character.

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Friendship Over Guilt

by: Terrell James

At a cave further from China

Deep inside of a dark cave where someone has hidden himself from nearly the rest of the world and the one person had a huge amount of guilt over what he had done and has paid the ultimate price for it...being banished from his home.

A young jaguar; 18 years of age, about 5'7, 149 pounds, blue eyes; wearing a sleeveless vest and grey pants; has curled himself in a circle, burying his face filled with tears coming out of his eyes and has a huge load of regret over what has transpired to this.

"Why did I have to do this? Why couldn't I have just said no? Why did I have to hurt my girlfriend?" asked the young jaguar, voice breaking.

"Now, I'm banished from my own hometown."

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_Couple of hours earlier_

_Michael made his way back to his hometown village, feeling completely anxious and really scared about how he'll face his parents and the parents of his girlfriend, Yu for telling him about his shameful action he had done two years ago. _

_He lets out a deep gulp as he entered in and he could see that mostly everything remained the same since he left it all behind before he met CeCe and let her dominate his life by forcing him to be friends with her...a move he completely regretted soon after._

_As soon as he headed to his home, he opened the door and what met his eyes were shocking and disturbing...his parents as well as Yu's parents sitting in the living room. When all four of them turned around and saw Michael come in, he just came in the house and stood in front of them. _

_"Michael, where have you been? You've been gone for so long." his mother said._

_Michael lets out a big sigh and replied, "I've been in hiding for 2 years."_

_Yu's father looked at Michael and he told him, "Michael, do you know what happened to my daughter? We found her body outside of the valley and it was filled with blood."_

_Suddenly, the guilt factor started kicking into Michael almost immediately and when he looked back onto it, he felt that there was no possible way to tell them the truth, but his gut instincts told him, 'tell them it was you and get it over with' and just as he was about to say something, her father brought in the knife that has the dried blood stains on it and Michael definitely knew that it was the same knife he used._

_"I..." Michael paused._

_Tears were staring to come out of Michael's face as he lowered his head down in shame and Michael's father noticed that he knows something that he wished he didn't._

_"Son...?" _

_Michael then mumbled something under his breath and when asked to repeat what he was saying, he rose his head up and more tears were coming out and he said it loud and clear..._

_"I'm the one that did it."_

_All four parents' eyes were widened and they were shocked to hear that Michael was responsible for killing Yu and Michael's mother immediately broke down in tears and in a fit of rage, Yu's father stood up to him and asked, "You did this to my daughter?! Are you saying you're the one who did it?!"_

_"Yes." Michael said, choking up._

_Michael's father roared in a fit of rage at his son and he yelled out, "What the hell were you thinking? You were supposed to look out for your date at that party!"_

_"I wasn't thinking because I was drunk! I've been dared to drink alcohol by a couple of friends of mine at that party and at one point...that's when I killed my girlfriend. I didn't mean to do it! I was drunk and out of my mind!" Michael shouted, with tears coming out of his eyes._

_Yu's mother was also crying hysterically to know that Michael was the one that killed her daughter and she asked, "Why couldn't you tell us before?!"_

_"I couldn't! I saw what I had done and realized that I did hurt my girlfriend! I ran away from here because I felt guilty about what my actions had occured that night! And ever since then, I've regretted everything I've done but I was afraid to tell you this! I was 16! I was stupid to have been drinking!" Michael yelled._

_"Son...I am deeply disappointed in you. Not only did you run away from us, but you never came forward back then to tell us what you've done." his father said, in an angry shameful tone._

_"I'm sorry! If I could take things back, I would. I never meant to hurt her in anyway! I'm really, really, really, really sorry!" Michael sobbed._

_Yu's father growled at him angrily and shouted, "It's too late for that now! 2 years too late!"_

_"I'm sorry!"_

_His father turned away from his own son and his mother followed suit as well as his father opened the door and told Michael, "Get out."_

_"Dad, please!" Michael pleaded._

_"Get out, Michael! You're not allowed to come back in this house!" his father shouted._

_"Or in this village at all!" Yu's father added._

_That made Michael feel really hurt to know that he's being kicked out by his own father and he said, "I'm really sorry!"_

_"GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR HOUSE!" his father shouted._

_"AND NEVER COME BACK TO THIS VILLAGE AGAIN, YOU MONSTER!" Yu's father also screamed out._

_Michael got kicked out by his own mother and as the door slammed, Michael broke down crying and soon enough, random villagers had heard about it and just stared at him._

_'Murderer.'_

_"You're a freakin' murderer!"_

_"Get out of this village!"_

_"We don't need you!"_

_Michael heard all of those comments come out of the villagers and he whispered, "No..."_

_"You're just a monster! A monster and a murderer!"_

_"NO!" Michael screamed as he ran away from the valley while the other villagers shouted violent words at him as soon as he left the village, he could hear those words surround his head and soon, he collapsed down to the ground, just sobbing hysterically._

_Hi guilt had become deeper and deeper and that he could never be forgiven for what he had done...nor would he forgive himself for it._

_"I'm so sorry, Yu. I am so, so sorry." Michael said, tears coming down on this village._

* * *

Present day

Michael had been hiding himself from this cave for merely 3 weeks now and since after his banishment, lots of regrets really sunk in and he knew that he'd never forgive himself for what he had done to Yu. He took a hard look at himself in the water and when he saw his reflection...he saw something he shouldn't have seen...the same person that accidently killed his girlfriend because of a very bad decision.

"It's true...I am a monster." Michael said, sobbing.

Michael pounded his fist on the water, letting most of his fur soak up a little bit and shouted out, "I AM A FREAKIN' MONSTER!"

His knees collapsed and fell down to the ground, letting all of the tears fall down and just sat there crying hysterically.

"Michael?"

Michael slowly turns around and saw his friend Musaki standing there, looking concerned and he turned himself away from him and said, "Go away, Musaki."

Musaki felt worried about Michael and he got a little closer to him saying, "I figured I found you here."

"Just leave me alone, Musaki." Michael said, getting away from him.

Musaki could immediately tell that something had happened back at his home village and he asked, "You told your parents what happened, didn't you?"

Michael didn't say anything because he already knew the answer to that one and he just covered his face to not let Musaki see him break down, but Musaki alredy figured it out already.

"Musaki...I've been banished from my home after what I have done to my girlfriend." Michael said, crying.

Musaki's eyes widened up after hearing this and he said, "I'm so sorry."

"Now because of me...I'll never show my face again." Michael said.

Musaki came a little closer to Michael and placed his paw on his shoulder and once the jaguar turns around, he could see that Musaki's not running away from him and remembered what Musaki told him.

'You will always have us and we're all here for you.'

Michael slowly came out of the darkest part of the cave with tears coming down on his face and as he got to Musaki, he only whispered, "This is all my fault. It's all my fault. Now I've got no family and no friends."

"Yeah, you do." Musaki said.

"Who?"

"Me."

Michael blinked a couple of times and he asked, "You're not running away from me?"

"We've known each other since you shifted from CeCe to real friends like me, Arizona and Naomi. You've got a friend in me." Musaki said.

"You really mean that?"

"Of course. Time heals all wounds and if you ever need someone to talk to, you know I'll always be here for ya." Musaki added.

Almost immediately, Musaki gave Michael a huge hug and Michael just cried on his shoulders and just embraced him, knowing that a true friend is here for him and he whispered, "Thank you."

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A little different than I originally planned, but it's awesome anyway. Again, this is for We'll-be-chasing-the-sun and I hope you like this!


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